Feb.17 : massive raid by well-armed Naxalite cadres on the Sildah security camp in West Bengal’s Paschim Mednipur district, in which at least 24 jawans were killed, should make us sit up. While it can be no one’s case that India and Afghanistan are comparable when considering whether the writ of the state runs or not, it is hard to turn away from the evidence in the matter of the management of ungoverned spaces in the two countries.

The violent Maoist groups have shown again and again that the vast swathes of territory in the tribal heartland of India are, effectively speaking, an ungoverned space. In Afghanistan, a reason for the success of the Taliban in recent years is that the Islamist militia has come to tighten its grip over areas where the presence of the state is less than nominal. But Kabul has an alibi. Conditions created by more than three decades of war have left the door open for malignant forces to consolidate themselves in certain regions which they use as staging posts for launching attacks on the security forces. In India, we have no similar explanation to offer for the emergence of territories — spread over several states — where the administration has come to matter less and less. If the governments in the Maoist-affected states are not quickly able to re-assert their control, there should be no surprise if Sildah-style massacres are replicated in states that confront the Maoist menace. In the event the Indian state’s room for manoeuvre will  shrink with every military success of the Maoists. The pity of it all is that it wasn’t always like this. Laxity of governance, deep-going corruption in levels of the administration that interface with the poor, disregard for livelihood concerns of the impoverished tribal people, and disdain of the idea of providing them timely justice, have allowed the contiguous forested tribal belt in the states of Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra to pass into the hands of the violent Maoists who ply their trade in the name of speaking up for the poor. While the Centre has helped these states put together the ingredients of “Operation Greenhunt”, which is essentially a military riposte, there is no sign yet that governments in the affected states have come up with people-oriented programmes to wean back the poor from the hold of the Maoists. In some of the above states, most notably West Bengal, unhealthy modes of competition among recognised political parties have made matters worse than they need have been. A redeeming feature of the Afghanistan situation is that the Taliban are not so bold as to launch a frontal assault against a security force camp. They rely almost entirely on guerrilla tactics and use improvised explosive devices with phenomenal success. But Sildah, and a few earlier attacks in other states, show that the Maoists have no hesitation in coming face-to-face with the security forces. In all such cases, it has been seen that the forces are taken unawares. This points to serious intelligence failures. The West Bengal home secretary has acknowledged as much in respect of the Monday massacre. It is also clear that the security forces, while serving in the forest areas, do not take enough measures to secure their camps. Arguing a case in the Supreme Court on Monday, the Solicitor-General of India has further noted that the security forces and their officers are sitting ducks as the level of the equipment they possess is pitiable. There is a lot that the Indian state must do before it can expect to get a handle on the situation.